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Maskholes attack
By adamg on Wed, 01/19/2022 - 9:02pm
Transit Police report arresting a Sturbridge man at the North Station commuter-rail station yesterday after he refused a request by officers to put on a mask while trying to get on a train and hit one of the officers in the face as they were escorting him out of the station.
Police say officers responded to North Station around 9:45 a.m. and decided to escort Rutul Jaiswal, 29, out of the station after he "refused to be reasoned with."
He was charged with assault and battery on a police officer. Police say he had several outstanding warrants out of Worcester for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and trespassing.
Separately, the Globe reports that a man who insisted he had the right to enter Regina Pizzeria in the North End without a mask on Sunday because he was "from the neighborhood," punched the manager in the face after the manager insisted that no, he could not come in.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
"This is my fucking city!"
"This is my fucking city!" Good job Transit Police. However, I wish you were more visually present all the time. MBTA should revise it's wealth budget to allow increasing Transit Police presence. But then Adam would have less incidents to write about. Thank you Adam for keeping us riders informed about all these jerks on our trains.
Transit Police are actually
Transit Police are actually under staffed. I heard they were hurting pretty badly for officers.
every other time
Pretty much half the time I ride the orange line, I wind up changing cars in the middle because there's either someone blatantly unmasked, someone coughing, or both.
MBTA Cops
I'm retired from the Transit Police. The MBTA area of service covers an enormous are of the state. MBTA Policers have full police powers in that service area including off of MBTA property.The T has always had an understaffed police force going back to December 1968 when the department was created with just 35 officers. Over my career the department grew in strength to over 266 officers. During that time the systems area of service grew with the expansion of the subway, bus routes, and the commuter rail. For multiple reasons the department has had large turnover rates due to retirees, transfers, resignations, and firings. The hiring process has not been able to make up for the large number of turnovers. Making matters worse is the fact that police recruitment is the lowest in History nationwide.
When there were only 35 T-cops
They rode buses and trains. Now they have over 275 officers and no one rides trains or buses.
Vaccine Passport
Beside being maskless and another wanted criminal riding the rails isn't he required to show a vaccine passport upon entering North Station/TD Garden.
Different entities
The Station is one thing - the Garden is another. Showing your vaccine status is for the Garden.
Different Rules
For the same building. So bars,fast food restaurants at South and North station are exempt from the vaccine passport rules?
^This^
The Garden checks vax cards right before the metal detectors and ticket scans, you can walk right into the station (and Pro Shop).
The Garden does not, however, actually enforce masks once inside.
The Garden
I would estimate that 80% of people are unmasked for most or all of the Bruins' games.
I get that it's not in the interest of The Garden to harass its customers about the mask policy, but it's not in a bar's interest to refuse entry to <21 either. But in the latter case, the city spends money sending inspectors out to find non-compliance as a stick to get the private business to enforce the city law.
Why wouldn't they do something similar with the mask mandate? It would only take a couple of violations and then you would see more substantive enforcement from the venue than what we currently see -- an usher standing around with a "please mask up" sign in front of hundreds of unmasked people.
Mandate vs law
Selling to a minor is against the law. Not masking indoors is against a mandate. Completely different things. Additionally, if your 80% number is accurate, why would they want to alienate their customer base with little benefit and zero recourse?
Rob O responds to robo
I completely understand why privately owned venues are not prioritizing enforcement -- that's the point of my comment.
I don't get your mandate/law distinction. I'm not suggesting that non-maskers be arrested, nor are there liquor licenses to threaten in many cases. But if this city policy is something other than a suggestion, there needs to be an enforcement mechanism behind it. Are you saying that there is not?
I am
Look at that lunatic at Pizzeria Regina’s where the cops showed up and couldn’t do anything about it. It’s a mandate, not a law. Cops have no enforcement and why would an establishment want to create a big scene alienating their clientele? Lose/lose for indoor venues.
Great name, btw
Heres where you’re wrong
Take mandate vs law off the table for a minute. Take vaccines, masks, and COVID off the table.
You have a person in a business establishment whom the business has asked to leave. The business doesn’t want them there. The business is not busting any anti-discrimination laws. They’re trespassing. The cops can and should help that person find their way to the door, and they can and should cite them for trespassing. This isn’t rocket science or legally obscure.
Those little signs
are hilarious. They’re like 5x7 and basically unreadable in the balcony.
Interestingly enough, I’ve also noticed the lack of masks seems to be much worse in the balcony than the loge or club seats. Somehow I’d have expected people in the tighter packed cheap seats to be the more cautious group.
American class structure?
If you’re unfamiliar with American class structure, it’s kind of a fascinating thing to study.
When it comes to
masking up where it’s required, there’s either class or no class.
I want the unvaccinated to be shunned as much as possible
but there's no practical way to have a vaccine mandate for public transportation.
Uber and Lyft could create one, but they definitely won't.